


After the Battle

by bodylikeabattleaxe



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-27 03:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2677364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bodylikeabattleaxe/pseuds/bodylikeabattleaxe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the epic battle is over, LaFontaine has an important conversation with Perry, and stays over to comfort Laura.</p><p>LaFerry, LaHollis(brotp)</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Battle

The battle was over, and the devastation was more than apparent. Everyone had gathered in Laura's room to tend to the wounded. LaFontaine and Perry were the last people there - Betty decided to stay with a friend, and had called her parents to come pick her up. She thanked Laura, but said she just couldn't handle being at Silas anymore. She promised a real goodbye before she left campus.

Laura took a shower once most everyone was gone. LaF sat on Laura's bed while Perry was on Carmilla's. LaF looked at her and wanted to say a thousand things, each grander and more ridiculous than the next.

"I think I'm gonna stay with Laura tonight," LaF muttered, wringing their hands.

The bathroom door opened and Laura emerged in a towel, her eyes still bloodshot.

Perry shuffled off the bed and said, "We'll give you some privacy."

LaF and Perry stood right outside the door, leaning against the frame. Perry reached for LaF.

"Please, LaFontaine. Come home with me tonight." Perry's voice stayed at its normal stiff tone, but at the word 'home' it faltered slightly and LaF could hear the sob stuck in her throat.

"Perry, Laura needs someone to be here. She shouldn't be alone after all that," LaF responded flatly, looking at the door. They'd stood against this door so many times they had begun to memorize the patterns in the wood and they scanned over the familiar shapes, clinging to anything that seemed the same as it used to be.

And then Perry was crying. LaF felt their body lurch forward before they even commanded it to, because holding Perry when she cried was one of the most basic instincts they had.

"Do you still love me?" Perry sobbed out, her words drenched in pain.

"Perry!" LaF pulled back, cupping their hands behind Perry's head and threading their fingers through her hair. They gave her a kiss against her forehead.

Perry didn't stop crying. "I mean it. Just tell me. So much is changing, so much has happened..."

"Lola Perry," LaF began, holding both of her hands and breaking into a tear-streaked smile. "I have loved you since the moment I knew what love even was. I know that things are changing and that I've been angry, and we've still got processing to do, but I never, not for a second, stopped loving you. And I never will."

Perry pulled LaFontaine into the deepest kiss either of them had ever known. Before, it had been chaste cheek kisses and pecks against the lips, but this kiss was tangled limbs and tongues and eyes squeezed shut. Their bodies had collided and still they pulled each other closer. After a moment, they separated their faces and sighed.

LaF could feel the tension leave Perry's body as she settled into the hug, and LaF nuzzled against her shoulder.

"I love you too," whispered Perry. She planted a kiss on LaF's head and stepped back, smoothing her clothes. "You're right - take care of Laura tonight, she needs you. Can I bring the two of you breakfast tomorrow?"

LaF melted a bit and smiled giddily. "Of course you can. I'll see you in the morning."

They kissed in the same chaste way they always had, but the brushing of lips felt like more this time - a small promise of bigger things to come.

LaF knocked on the door, something they couldn't remember doing any other time. Laura opened it gingerly. She had started to cry again.

LaF scooped the smaller girl into their arms and held her firmly, as if they could stop the crumbling heap Laura became. As she went limp, LaF garthered the last of their strength to carry her over to the bed.

"I know. I know, sweetie," LaF said softly, running their hands along Laura's arms and back. They were leaned against the wall as Laura settled against LaF's side.

She collapsed like a building under a wrecking ball, the rubble still echoing the fall.

"You're gonna make it through tonight, and in the morning we'll make it through tomorrow. All we can do is take this one day at a time," LaF wanted to fill the silence with something that seemed profound, but settled into the most practical, whatever that sounded the least like a lie.

Laura seemed to nod, gripping LaF's legs as her sobs quieted. She finally managed to sit up and take a deep breath.

"Why don't I make us some hot cocoa, and we can take enough pain medicine to knock out an elephant, then try and get some sleep?" LaF suggested, trying to smile.

"Okay," Laura replied. Her voice was so raw, LaF could hear how much it must have hurt her to talk.

LaF busied themselves making hot chocolate, though they teared up upon seeing the blood bag left in the refrigerator. They fixed the two cups, grabbed a bottle of pain medicine from Perry's massive first aid kit, and met Laura back on the bed.

The room was only lit by a single lamp. Outside the campus was a special kind of silent, the kind that you can only hear when the rest of the world has been loud too long.

They both drank their cocoa even though it was too hot. They both swallowed the pain medicine in doses that were a bit too high. And neither reached up to turn off the light as they crawled under the covers.

Laura's crying began anew, and LaF tried everything to quiet the shuddering girl. They rubbed her back, held her close, whispered cliches that were thought to be comforting, but nothing felt right. This was usually what Perry did - comforting people, taking their worst problems and solving them with stern advice or baked gods. LaFontaine only rarely took care of Perry, usually when she was sick, and they hadn't really cared for anyone but Perry in a long time. Befriending Laura and being so close to her was a surprise. LaF wanted her to know, at least in a small way, just how much they cared. So they began to sing.

It was a quiet song, it might've even been a hymn, one her grandfather used to sing,

 _Will the circle,  
_ _be unbroken,_  
by and by, Lord, by and by.   
There's a better,   
home a'waiting,   
in the sky, Lord, in the sky.

LaFontaine's singing voice was always higher than people expected. They didn't sing that much anymore, didn't play the guitar every night like they used to, but singing still felt as natural as breathing. As the song went on, LaF could feel Laura's body relax, and then she was softly snoring.

In the morning, Perry brought them bagels, doughnuts, and fresh coffee. She opened up the window to let in light and fresh air. As she sat down with them on the bed, she gave LaF a sweet kiss, square on the lips.

Laura smiled for the first time since the end of the battle.


End file.
